Ready to be on the Way!

My Credential

It has been a busy and very cold month of May in London!  My parents visited us March 6 - 20.  We had a wonderful time with them and I’ll write about their visit in a separate blog.  It is hard to believe that we have less than a week before we travel to France to begin our pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago.

We’ve been busily preparing for the journey.  I knew that we would not have much time between my parents’ visit and leaving for the Camino so I made a check list of things to do and to pack before they came.  One of the items on my list was to stop in at the Confraternity of St. James in London to obtain the “Credential” that will certify our status as pilgrims and will allow us to stay in the albergues (pilgrim hostels).  We will get it stamped at each alberugue and at many other stops along the Way.  The Confraternity is pretty much a volunteer group and their office is only open for three hours on Thursdays. So the day my parents visited Westminster Abbey, Tom and I thought we would check “get credential” off our list. 

The Confraternity of St. James is dedicated to supporting the Camino de Santiago and supporting pilgrims from the UK in their journeys.  We joined the organization last year because I knew we would be in London during the months prior to leaving for the walk.  We stopped by their office earlier this winter and got some good advice and general information about travelling to St. Jean Pied de Port where we will start walking.  But this visit was different -- getting, the Credential with our names made the journey seem much more imminent and portentous. 

After visiting the Confraternity, we took our new documents to the church of St. James Garlickhythe.  St James is a medieval church (rebuilt after the great London fire by Christopher Wren) that is closely associated with the Camino.  It is located along the Thames River in an area of central London that was known in medieval times as Garlic Hill.  From this spot, ships bringing garlic and other spices from France and Spain departed.  English pilgrims would often worship at St. James and then begin their journey to Santiago by “hitching a ride” on these ships.  The historic association between the Camino and the church has never ceased and many British pilgrims still officially start their Camino journey by obtaining a stamp from St. James.  We joined their ranks!.  I have to say that receiving the first stamp in our newly minted Credentials at such a historic place was quite emotional. All of a sudden, our Camino undertaking seemed very real!

Tom and I have been planning to travel to the South Downs National Park the weekend after my parents left in order to make a test run of our equipment.  The South Downs are only an hour and a half south of London by train.  The park is one of Britain’s newest and its key feature is a 100+ mile path called the “South Downs Way” as well as many other designated walking paths.  We thought we would be able to walk marked paths (so we didn’t have to constantly be consulting a map) and see a new part of England.  We did both of those things.  We also thought the weather at the end of March would be pretty good (temps in the 50’s).  On this score we were sadly wrong!  The UK is powering through the coldest March on record.  It snowed in most of the country while we were in the downs.  And while we missed the snow, the temperatures were between 34 and 40, it rained on Friday and on Saturday morning and the wind was brutal.  Tom says the trip was boot camp for the Camino with Mother Nature as our drill sergeant!  Yet it was a great trip -- we stayed in a wonderful B&B, ate some fabulous food and saw some wonderful sights.

Our B & B was in Alfriston – a very small village in the middle of the downs.  The parish church dates back to the 12^th Century and a number of the buildings along the high (main) street were built in the 13^th century.  After we trained down from London, we had to walk 5 miles from the station into Alfriston on Friday morning.  No sooner had we checked into our B & B and eaten lunch than the sun had disappeared and the rain had started.  We decided to scrap a longer walk and content ourselves with exploring town for the remainder of the afternoon.  We found a great watercolor by a local artist.  Getting it home was something of a challenge as we had walked in and planned to walk out of the park.  In the end, Tom strapped the wrapped and boxed art to his backpack  for our walk on Sunday – it worked like a parasail!  I also found a good English soup cookbook. I wanted it because I have been on a tour of British soups (they are often the most healthy choice for lunch out and I love soup) and I have decided that the Brits make the best and most diverse soups on the face of the earth! 

After our little shopping spree, on Saturday we struck out in the misty drizzle, for the Downs.  Wow!  We walked past the Long Man of Wilmington.  This is a figure, carved in the chalk slope of a steep hill.  It is over 200 feet tall.  It is believed to have been first created during the Bronze Age.  The figure has been outlined in chalk bricks so it is very visible.  Other than that, it appears as it did over 2000 years ago.  We also explored a couple of ancient churches built during Saxon and Norman times!  We had a great time for most of the day.  Toward the end, we encountered a lot of viscous, sucking English mud and decided to cut off the rest of the walk (if we never walk in deep mud again, it will be too soon!)

But Sunday was the pièce de rèsistance!  We walked along chalk cliffs on the south coast of England from Crucksmere Haven to Eastbourne.  This area is west of the famous white cliffs of Dover but just as scenic.  The cliffs and scenery were spectacular even in the windy, misty weather.  We walked through incredible winds.  During the first half of the day the sustained winds were probably about 25-30 mph with gusts possibly up to 40 mpg.  Nonetheless, with the spectacular surroundings this was invigorating!  After lunch the winds got a bit colder and heavier – possibly with gusts up to 50 mph!  There were definitely times when we both felt we could not stand against the wind!  We passed invigorating into brutal a few times!  Luckily these winds were not until the later part of our walk.  But we were definitely glad to reach our destination and get on our train back to London. 

We both did well carrying our full packs. Our waterproof clothing was truly waterproof.  We think we are ready for the Way!

Liz

Here are our pictures: Camino Preparations